When I was about eight years old a new food company sent my mom --- a food writer and cooking teacher -- a large crate of frozen dinners to write about in her weekly newspaper column. Opening that crate was a true revelation for my older brothers and me. Until that moment, we never knew food could come broken into four separate compartments: for green beans, mashed potatoes, roast turkey doused in gravy and, finally, a small cherry crumble -- all ready in less than 20 minutes.